A TEACHER was so drunk that police had to carry her from the car she was driving after a collision, a court heard.

Martaline Ballinger, aged 36, had drunk more than four times the legal alcohol limit.

Supply teacher Ballinger, of Nant-y-Dwrgi, Llanharan, was sentenced to three months in jail - suspended for 18 months - and banned from driving for four years by Pontypridd Magistrates’ Court after she admitted driving with excess alcohol.

Jeff Mark, prosecuting, said she had 351 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. Almost four and a half times the legal limit of 80.

Mr Mark said Ballinger was driving along Bridgend Road, Llanharan, at 4.25pm on January 29. As she pulled out to overtake parked cars, an oncoming Volkswagen drifted towards her lane. She beeped her horn but the car collided with her vehicle. Owing to the collision, Ballinger could not get out of the car and had to be released by police officers.

Mr Mark said: “They found her slumped over the steering wheel and her speech was slurred. She was clearly drunk and had to be carried to a police car.”

Defending solicitor Garan Treharne said Ballinger is deeply ashamed of what happened and accepts that her behaviour was very dangerous and stupid. But he said she was in a very difficult personal situation at the time.

Mr Treharne said Ballinger and her husband have a volatile relationship and their marriage is likely to end in divorce.

He added: “They had argued that day and she lost her way and turned to drink. “

Mr Treharne said Ballinger had lost two children in her native South Africa and had a very difficult upbringing with a father who was violent.

He said Ballinger clearly has a drink problem. She has already handed her car back to the lease company and is about to start a detox programme.

Mr Treharne added: “This was a very high reading, one of the highest this court has seen”.

District judge Jill Watkins said the “extraordinarily high” alcohol reading and the accident pushed the case over the custody threshold.